Family Vacation
by Josephine Stone
Summary: Under the strain of a curse, a family vacation could be the last thing Harry and Draco need.


Written for micehellphdm at hds_beltane 2014. Betaed by digthewriter.

* * *

'You want to take my son out in a car?' Draco had a dangerous look in his eye, and Harry held back a string of curse words as he reminded himself that he loved the man dearly. He just couldn't remember why.

'We've had this planned for over six months.'

'And in that time you failed to mention we'd be getting there by _car_.'

'I'm a good driver—'

'Plenty of good drivers still die in roadway collisions.'

Draco didn't like anything with uncertainty. It had taken him month to be okay will letting the children know he and Harry were together, because he was uncertain how they would take it.

Even without the curse effecting every conversation they had, Harry knew Draco would be difficult about letting Scorpius use Muggle transportation. He had never allowed it before and rarely even rode with Harry himself.

Harry should have dealt with it in the beginning, before they were cursed by one of Harry's crazy fans. But then, he hadn't known they would be cursed. He'd thought he'd ease into it later.

'Would you rather us take public transportation?' Harry knew that the only worse in Draco's mind than Harry's car was strangers in control of their lives. Draco never took public transportation.

'Dad,' Scorpius said with a slight whine that reminded Harry of his younger years. 'Please, don't do this.'

'It's dangerous, Scorpius.'

'But you promised . . .' And Scorpius was not a toddler—he was nearly seventeen; Draco needed to learn to let go, but Scorpius had been his whole world for so long. Harry liked to think he changed that, but after the curse he was less and less sure about it.

'We'll all be there,' Harry said, but he wasn't so certain after the look Draco gave him. It was supposed to be a family holiday. Their last before Albus and Scorpius left school to travel for a year. Something else that Draco was far too nervous about. James did the same the year after he left school, and he'd gone alone. So Harry wasn't as nervous about Scorpius and Albus going together.

It wouldn't be much of a family holiday if Draco refused to go, except—

They hadn't made it more than fifteen minutes without fighting since they were cursed. There was nothing wrong with their memories. Harry did actually remember that he loved Draco, and why he loved him. He remembered their first kiss only a few months after Harry's divorce. After Harry made a fool of himself in a pub and Draco stopped him from punching some random bloke who'd—well, Harry wasn't sure what the man had said.

When they were both ready to give up, Harry tried to get Draco to remember their first nights together. How Draco found excuses to stop by Harry's new flat, and then how he found more to stay the night. Neither of them brave enough to acknowledge the first drunken kiss, nor initiate a second one. Eventually, Draco said, 'We're too old for this,' and followed Harry to his room instead of sleeping on the sofa.

It wasn't as though the things that made Harry fall for Draco had disappeared; it was more like all the negatives about Draco had been amplified, and it was drowning out everything Harry loved about him.

Perhaps a holiday away from each other was what they needed while the curse was still so new. It might wear off with time, but it also might not and they'd hadn't found a counter-curse. It was being worked on by the Auror Department.

Albus entered with Lily just behind him from packing their bags in the car. James would be waiting for them out at the beach house. Harry and Draco tried to make a habit of not looking at each other, because it made conversation easier. Draco's voice still grated on Harry—his tone of voice and how it always sounded as if it was filled with disdain—but in the silence without looking at each other it was easier to fight the curse. It was easier to remember how they made it to where they were.

So Harry stared at the floor while he waited for Draco to decide if he was still coming or not. He imagined Draco was staring at the wall or his son; it was what he generally did when he was angry at Harry.

'I suppose,' Draco said, 'we will.'

Scorpius smiled and Albus sighed, but Lily looked worried.

Harry was worried.

Before, Harry would've taken Draco's hand in the car when the movement made him nervous or another car came too close to theirs. He'd know that whatever reassuring words he came up with would calm Draco, however slightly; but then Harry kept his mouth shut and hands firm on the wheel. Talking would aggravate Draco and cause them to fight.

Thankfully, it was only a short drive to the beach. Which was the main reason Harry had wanted to drive in the first place. Sometimes driving was fun and the kids enjoyed watching the scenery as they made their way out of the city and towards the shore. Though Draco, just as Ginny had, thought it was a waste of time, Harry felt they were missing out by constantly skipping over that part of their family trips.

Harry glanced at the kids in the back seat. Scorpius sat in the middle with the other two fighting over his attention. Al and Scorpius had been friends since their first year, so it wasn't much of a change having Scorpius over during the summers. He'd been there often enough, and even more so when his parents divorced when he was thirteen. The kids already got on well.

When they arrived at the beach house they had rented, James had already started a fire out on the beach.

'The sun won't be gone for hours,' Harry said.

James smiled. 'I didn't see that as a reason to wait.'

'I'm hungry,' Albus said. 'This just means food faster.'

'We have magic for that.' Draco handed the bags of food over to Albus to take over to the fire.

'We're allowed magic this weekend?' Albus looked back and forth between Draco and Harry.

Harry couldn't take another fight. Not so soon. Though he didn't want anyone to get into trouble, either. 'Just don't let any Muggles see you.' A quick scan showed that the beach was empty. It was early yet; people would be out on the fifth for sure. Even if just for the night.

'Thanks, Dad!' The kids ran off down the beach, and Harry followed Draco inside the house. They headed off to separate parts of the house to unpack. Draco took their things to put away in one of the rooms and, after sending the kids' stuff up stairs, Harry went to sort through the rest of the bags in the kitchen.

A hour later, Draco finally came down the stairs.

'What are you making?' Draco voice was softer than Harry had heard it in a while.

'Salad mostly and trying to find something healthier than the rubbish they've been eating for the past hour.' Harry glanced up at Draco's lost face and then back down to the peppers he was slicing. 'What took you so long?'

'I was waiting for you.'

Harry stopped, but didn't look up from his work. He wanted to touch Draco and it wasn't immediately followed by the thought that touching Draco would make everything worse, but he couldn't bring himself to go to Draco. Harry was just as upset and hurt by this as Draco. Sometimes he was the one who needed comfort. Then Harry knew the curse had taken over his thoughts again.

Draco _did_ comfort Harry just as much as the other way around. He was forgetting it because of his anger. He set the knife down and rounded the island to pull Draco into a tight hug. They hadn't touched like that in—had it been a month? Why had he pushed Draco so far away? The stress slowly left Harry shoulders and back as Draco held him back just as tightly.

'I'm so sorry,' Harry said. 'I just didn't want to fight.'

'I wasn't sure if you were ever going to look at me again. Every time you'd just walked past me, I'd want to just give up and to leave; go to my parents. What are we going to do? We can't go on like this.'

'We're talking now.' Harry's thoughts hung on that as Draco pulled back and their eyes met. 'We'll make it through this. I won't push you away anymore.'

A smile tugged at the corners of Draco's lips as Draco leaned in to kiss him. Harry closed his eyes as their lips met and it felt good. Nothing was pushing him away from Draco or making his angry. He pulled back and searched Draco's face, who seem to realise at the same time that the curse was gone.

Draco kissed him hard on the mouth and didn't care if he couldn't breathe after a minute. He didn't want to let go.

'Dad!' Lily shouted and she bounded inside the house. 'Come quick!'

'What!' Draco ran after her Harry quick at his heels. 'What happened!'

'I don't know they just collapsed!'

#

After the Healers at St Mungo's assured them that Albus and Scorpius would be just fine once the potions worked their magic, Harry turned to his other children and said, 'What did they do? What magic were they messing with?'

'They were trying to help,' James said, and with a smirk added, 'and from what I see it worked.'

'What worked?'

Lily twisted her hair around her finger. 'We wanted you to stop fighting. The curse was making everyone miserable . . . and they found a spell.'

'The Ministry was working on it!' Draco glared back and forth at the two children. 'Don't you think they can handle it, especially if a couple of teenagers figured it out? Why didn't they just tell us?'

'Because it had to be them,' James said. 'Well, it had to be someone blood related and we knew you would never have let Scorpius—'

'I have other blood relatives—'

'Ew, but they had to . . .'

Draco's eyes went wide, and Harry jumped up ready to attack someone. Except everyone around him, he loved and didn't want to hurt.

'Kiss!' James waved them down. 'It was _just_ a kiss. Which was nothing for them, but would have been rather awkward for anyone else. It's fine, they're fine, everything is going to be fine.'

Harry took a deep breath, though he didn't agree that everything was fine with a Beltane spell it could have been a lot worse. A nurse came out and lead them back into the room where Albus and Scorpius were waking up. They both went pale and Harry saw James mouth "I tried" as he came to lean against the wall.

Lily ran to hug and kiss them both.

'You all right, then?' Harry said.

They nodded and Albus gave a sheepish smile. 'We were never really in any danger.'

'You could have died,' Draco said.

'We just got knocked out.' Scorpius rolled his eyes. 'We should have checked the area for rocks before we tried, but we didn't think we'd be thrown backwards.'

Albus rubbed the back of his head as seemed to be thinking back. 'There were a lot of rocks . . .'

Harry sighed and took his son's hand. 'You're fine now, and that's all we were worried about.'

At the boys' smiles, Draco crossed his arms and shook his head at the lot of them. 'Just because everyone is going to be fine doesn't mean you all aren't still in a lot of trouble.'

Harry agreed. Yes, everyone was quite back to normal, and once they were done with their punishment Harry might have to sneak them all a reward.


End file.
